Record Day Ends On Smith's Golden Goal

Sept. 11, 2011

Members of the Cal State Fullerton Army ROTC present the colors prior to Sunday afternoon's women's soccer match against Columbia as part of a pregame moment of silence to honor those lost on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Photo by Becca Dobbs)

FULLERTON, CA - Kishi Smith's first career goal, a "golden goal" game-winner with 44 seconds remaining in the second overtime, Sunday afternoon, capped off a school-record 12-shot afternoon for the sophomore and lifted host Cal State Fullerton to a, 1-0, double-overtime win over Columbia at Titan Stadium.

The victory ended a four-match losing streak for the Titans (2-4-1), who were playing their fourth overtime contest in its first seven games of the 2011 season and posted an overtime victory for the first time since Aug. 29, 2008, in a 3-2 win at California. The Lions fell to 0-4 with the loss.

Freshman Rebecca Wilson started the run with under a minute to play in the match, cutting to the middle and splitting three defenders with a short pass to Smith on the left side. Smith then rocketed the ball back to the right post, just past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Lillian Klein, who finished with 11 saves, for her first career strike, ending the match.

Fullerton, which scored a goal for the first time in over 397 minutes (not counting the own goal at BYU on Sept. 2), outshot Columbia, 30-7, for the match -- tied for the eighth-most shots in a single match in school history and the most since the Titans finished with 32 shots against Idaho in 2004. All 10 of the shots in overtime were taken by Fullerton while the defense held the Lions to without a shot for the final 45 minutes of the match.

Smith's total topped the previous mark of 10 shots taken by Kellie Cox against Wyoming almost 10 years to the day on Sept. 28, 2001. It is only the second time in school history that a Titan has finished with double-digit shots.

Sophomore Lindsey Maricic finished with four saves in posting her second shutout of the year, including a clutch stop just three minutes into the match as Columbia's Ashlin Yahr served the ball to teammate Coleen Rizzo, whose header was tipped just outside the right post by Maricic and cleared by the defense.

The Titans also had an opportunity to break the deadlock with just over 10 minutes to play in the first as Kishi Smith's free kick from 35 yards out straight on was saved at the left post by Klein and retrieved by the Titans' Caitlin Mellano, but the senior's volley in the box missed just wide to the right post, keeping it scoreless.

The Lions were quick out of the gate again to start the second half as Yahr and Rizzo almost caught Fullerton napping, doubling up and taking the ball away from a Titan defender who was dribbling back toward her own net. However, the defender recovered and tackled the ball off one of the Columbia players just wide of the left post before a shot could be taken.

Then, 12 minutes later, the Lions' Sarah Forthal found herself wide open on the left side after a throw in, but her shot never emerged from traffic as three Fullerton defenders were waiting on the doorstep to clear it away as time ticked away toward overtime.

Smith took three of Fullerton's four shots in the first overtime, two of them saved by Klein, before both teams had solid opportunities to win it in the second extra period. With two minutes remaining, Wilson sent a ball into the box that was saved by Klein, but fell immediately to Brianna Chapman, whose rocket was blocked by the defense.

Columbia then countered with just over a minute to play as Marissa Schultz found room on the left end line, dribbling around a Fullerton defender and finding a pair of teammates on runs up the middle. However, her centering pass was gathered up by Maricic to preserve the shutout and set up Smith's game-winner.

The Titans return to the road for only the second time in 2011 next weekend as they head to Albuquerque, NM, for the New Mexico Nike Classic. Fullerton will take on host New Mexico on Friday (Sept. 16) at 6 p.m. PT before meeting North Texas on Sunday (Sept. 18) at 9:30 a.m. PT. UC Riverside is the fourth team in the tournament.